In Pictures: Mourinho's 'beautiful young eggs'

Jose Mourinho's poetic egg speech has got Al Jazeera English thinking just who are the eggs that the Portuguese manager is waiting to crack.

Wed Sep 18 2013 21:00:30 GMT+0000

When describing his team Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho spoke of (***)beautiful young eggs(***) waiting to be cracked. So that got us thinking... just who are these pretty young eggs?

Chief egg: At 22, and already with a season under his belt, Eden Hazard is one of the more developed Chelsea eggs. As part of Belgium\(***)s golden generation, there was much squawking around Stamford Bridge during his $50 million move from Lille. Hazard isa regular starter but after being compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo more is expected from this little chicky.

Poster boy egg: Also 22, the fresh faced innocence and baby face of Oscar perfectly encapsulates Mourinho\(***)s \(***)beautiful young eggs\(***) analogy. The Brazilian cost around $32 million from Brazil club Internacional. Oscar is just at the beginning of his career but is already part of the Brazilian set-up, and a talent to watch both at club and international level.

New egg: Another egg and another Belgium - Kevin De Bruyne (L) broke onto the scene by receiving the man of the match award on his debut. However, with only two first team performances, it is unclear whether this egg will make an omlette.

German egg: No prizes for guessing the age of this egg, yes Andre Schurrle is 22. The magic number at Chelsea. The forward has made four appearances for the Blues after arriving from Bayer Leverkusen in April. He is yet to score for his new club so will be grateful that \(***)father\(***) Mourinho is ready with a blanket to keep him warm.

Trial egg: Not officially a Chelsea player yet, 18-year-old triallist Bertrand Traore has made appearances for the club in friendlies. Here the Burkina Faso player battles Rizky Pellu of Indonesia all-Stars. If Traore is signed by Jose Mourinho - one thing is for certain, this egg faces stiff competition to make it into Chelsea\(***)s starting line-up.

Defensive egg: At the tender age of 18, Nathan Ake (L) is in the true sense of the word a \(***)beautiful young egg\(***). Voted Chelsea\(***)s young player of the year in 2013, the Dutch player made his debut for Chelsea at only 17. He has made two more first team appearances since then, so this egg\(***)s future is uncertain. Young talent is ten to the dozen at Stamford Bridge.

\(***)Dave\(***) egg: With a complicated sounding name, Spaniard Cesar Azpilicueta has apparently been christened by his teammates \(***)Dave.\(***) And \(***)Dave\(***) is held in high regard by fellow countryman Juan Mata, "He is a strong running right-back who has pace as well, so I think he is already a complete player." If this is the case, it might be time for Mourinho to get cracking.

Fresh English egg: You don(***)t find many English players in the EPL these days, and even less at Chelsea. Number 20, and only 20, there are high hopes for Josh McEachran who has had loan spells at Middlesbrough and Swansea.